Waiting For You
by Frozen Hurricane
Summary: tarts at the Strigoi attack. No kidnapping of Eddie, and Rose and Dimitri never slept with each other.  When Rose gets a call from Dumbledore, her, Eddie, Adrian, Dimitri, Lissa, Christian, Alberta and Janine all go to Hogwarts to help fight you-know-who!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1.  
RPOV  
Thunk. I felt and heard my stake being shoved into the heart of the Strigoi that stood in front of me. His body froze, and slumped to the floor. I turned around and looked for the next threat. Only, there weren't any. Around Christian and I were piles of Strigoi bodies. I wiped my stake on a nearby body and looked to the sky, which was just starting to turn pink, and a hint of sun was peaking above the think trees that surrounded the school. I looked to Christian.  
"You okay?" I asked. I was still running on adrenalin, and knew he must be too. Sure enough I felt my arms and legs starting to go weak as I saw all the death around me. I mean sure, they were heartless (metaphorically), emotionless, evil creatures who deserved to die, but at the same time, they used to be just like me. They used to be Moroi and Dhampir, and whenever I took a step back after killing a Strigoi, the full weight of that put pressure on me.  
"Yeah, just a little tired." Answered Christian, interrupting my thoughts.  
"Rose!" called a voice. I turned around to see Alberta jogging towards me.  
"Is everyone okay?" I asked, panicking, immediately thinking of Lissa and Dimitri.  
"Yeah they're fine, a few injuries, but no deaths thank god." Answered Alberta. I looked at her weather worn face and saw that she'd been just as scared as me. A massive band of Strigoi was not common.  
I glanced over to Christian just in time, as I saw his legs give way. I rushed over to him and caught him just in time.  
"Woah, alright there, Pyro?" I asked him, despite my joking attitude I really did care if he was okay or not.  
"Yeah, I think I just used a bit too much magic, I'll be okay here in a second." He removed himself from my grasp and sat down on the ground. He took deep breaths and looked up at me.  
"See, all better!" Christian smiled.  
"Well, alright but I think we should go inside. Plus, I need to see how Lissa's doing." Christian immediately stood up.  
"Well, lets go then!" He said, starting to walk ahead of me, towards the Moroi dorms. Well, looks like he really did only need a second to recover.  
Christian, Alberta and I walked to the Moroi dorms, occasionally supporting Christian as he stumbled. He clearly out did himself, but it was worth it. The fire he used was a big help, especially as it was just me and him against twenty or so Strigoi.  
We walked opened the door to the dorms, and climbed the stairs to the first level, where we knew Eddie was keeping the Moroi safe.  
"Rose!Christian!" A blond whirlwind suddenly attacked Christian and I in a massive hug. "Thank god you guys are okay!" Lissa cried, sobbing a bit.  
"Shh..it's okay now! They're all gone!" I comforted her.  
I continued hugging her until I could feel her emotions starting to calm down, and went to check on the rest of the Moroi. Eddie was among them, comforting them all.  
When I finished my assessment of the room, I walked outside to get some fresh air. I turned the corner and saw Adrian healing a small boy who had fallen over in the panic.  
"See, it's not bad anymore!"He soothed the boy in a soft voice. The little boy sniffled, stood up and ran away towards the elementary side of campus.  
Adrian turned around and saw me. His worried face instantly melted into a smile as he saw me.  
"Rose! Are you okay? You're not hurt are you? Do you want me to heal that?"  
"Heal what?" I asked, a little confused.  
Adrian nodded to the top of my arm, where there was a long tear in my clothes, and a cut, which was leaking a little blood.  
"Oh, erm, if you want, but don't over do yourself." I said worriedly, I'd just had to take away all of Lissa's spirit induced darkness, which made me turn into some angry, attacking monster, who (satisfyingly) broke Jesse Zeklos' nose.  
"It's fine, I'm doing okay." he smiled at me, and moved closer. He moved his hand on top of the cut and I flinched at the sudden contact onto the raw skin. I noticed how soft and warm his hand was, and as I looked into his emerald green eyes that were so much like Lissa's, I felt the familiar hot, cold, hot, cold sensation of being healed by a Spirit user. I dragged my eyes away from his sparkling ones, and looked at my arm, which was now fully healed, and just looked a little pink. He removed his hand from my arm.  
"Well, I've got to go see if anyone needs my help, so I'll just be off." He smiled, looking a little wistfully at me, and then started to leave. His retreat was suddenly halted however, by a white light that streaked through the sky, and landed in between us. It was a phoenix that looked like it was made from smoke. Or silk. Or maybe both.  
A loud voice boomed out of it suddenly, making both Adrian and I jump.  
"Rose, we need your help desperately. He's starting to gain power and is corrupting the ministry. I need your best fighters from the Academy to come here, and help with the war. I haven't said too much in case this message falls into the wrong hands, but I trust that you know of what I speak. I'm counting on you Miss Hathaway." The voice trailed off and the Phoenix dissipated into nothing.  
There was a silence as Adrian and I both stared at the spot where the creature had just been.  
"Have I been using too much Spirit, or did a bird made of smoke just fall out of the sky and start speaking to us?" he asked me, looking around like he was expecting someone to jump out and shout "Surprise!".  
"It's a patronus." I corrected him automatically. "And you're not going crazy." I hesitated just a second longer, and then my Guardian reflexes kicked in as I ran to the Guardian meeting room, where I knew my mom and the people I needed to talk to would be.  
"Rose! Hang on a second!" Shouted Adrian behind me.  
I ignored him and kept running. I burst through the doors and looked around at my mom, Alberta, Dimitri and Stan.  
I caught my breath and said, "Albus Dumbledore needs our help. Now."


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2 Golden Trio POV (third person)

Harry was sitting in the Gryffindor Common room, term had just started and he had already been given half a ton of homework, mainly from Snape. He was trying to write an essay on wolfsbane when Collin Creevy, an excitable 5th year, came running up to him.

"Harry!" He panted. "Professor Dumbledore wanted me to give you this," Harry took the letter from Collin, opened it and read:

_Dear Harry, _

_I request that you, Hermione and Ron come up to my office immediately it is of the utmost importance and it concerns all three of you. _

_I hope you had a wonderful holiday. I had an joyful time eating cough drops._

_Yours sincerely_

_Albus Percival Brian Dumbledore._

Harry looked up to see that Colin was watching him.

"Harry," He started nervously, "Could I have your autograph?"

"Err, maybe later Collin." Harry said distractedly as he made his way through the portrait hole and towards the library, where Ron and Hermione were.

"Guys Dumbledore wants to see us in his office." Hermione looked up from her book.

"Why? We're not in trouble are we?"

"I don't know, He said it was very important." Harry replied.

Hermione sighed. "But I _just_ found the right page!" She said torturously as she closed the heavy pages.

All three of them put their books away and made their way to Dumbledore's office.

"Cough Drops." Harry told the gargoyle, which graciously moved aside and let them up. They knocked on the door and Dumbledore permitted them to enter.

Inside were nearly all the professors of Hogwarts and some ghosts.

"Harry, Ron and Hermione looked around nervously.

"What's going on?" Asked Hermione, talking specifically to Dumbledore. He looked at the room at large.

"We are receiving some new 'exchange' students on Friday from Montana – America.

They are very important and they are a bit different to your normal witch or wizard. They are to be looked after to highest standards." They all nodded that they understood and Dumbledore smiled, there was something in his eyes that told them he hadn't explained the full story.

The teachers left, so it was just Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dumbledore left.

"Sir?" Harry asked uncertainly. "Why are we having 'exchange' students?"

Dumbledore looked at Harry and smiled sadly.

"To put it simply Harry, we are under attack."

"Well yes Sir, but what can _they _do against Voldemort?" Ron and Hermione automatically flinched at his name.

"They're not witches and wizards Harry." The three of them exchanged puzzled looks.

"Well then what are they, Professor?" Hermione questioned.

"Moroi and Dhamphirs." Replied Dumbledore. Hermione gasped, while the boys still didn't understand, of course Hermione knew what they were.

"Vampires, Professor?"

"Yes but don't worry, they won't bite – Much." Dumbledore chuckled at the looks on their faces.

"They are going to help fight. I'll send them to the Gryffindor common room when they arrive. Goodnight to you all" Dumbledore made it plain that that was that.

Back in the Gryffindor Common room, they all discussed the new guests.

"I can't believe it! I always thought they were myths"

"Hermione." Ron said. "Wizards and Witches are meant to be myths."

"I know it's just – so – just-"She stopped, too flustered to talk.

"Do you remember two girls called Rose and Lissa that we used to be friends with about a year ago?" Harry and Ron nodded.

"They believed in the myth. They believed it was true. If only they were here with us to find out they were right." She whispered and silence met her as all were lost in their thoughts about the two girls who had upped and left without a word


	3. Chapter 3

Ch3 RPOV

Kirova Finally (With a little 'persuasion' from Lissa) let us go to Hogwarts to help Dumbledore. Lissa, Christian, my mum, Adrian, Dmitri, Alberta, Eddie, Mia and I were all chosen to go seeing as we were the best fighters and Christian, Mia and Lissa just wanted to go.

I thought back to my two years 'vacation' with Lissa. We'd stayed at Hogwarts for our first year, and became close friends with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. No-one but Dumbledore had known what we were, so it made life easier for us.

This time when we returned to Hogwarts, we would be returning as what we really are, Guardians. Or in Lissa's case a princess.

We were currently on the Academy's private jet and I was sat between Dmitri and Adrian. You could cut the tension between us with my stake.

"So baby, I heard that we all sleep in the same room. We could share a bed if there's not enough space or blankets," he said with a wink.

"We're staying in the same _common room_ but sleeping in different dormitories." I rolled my eyes at him.

I saw Dmitri glare at Adrian out of the corner of my eye, so I decided to piss him off by snuggling closer to Adrian, who, in return, wrapped an arm around me and smirked at Dmitri.

"Tough Love, Belikov."

Sucks to him. He's the one that doesn't want to be seen with me in public, and at least Adrian isn't ashamed of having a relationship with me.

I sighed at rested my head on Adrian's shoulder.

"Are you all right Little Dhamphir?"He asked with genuine concern.

"Yeah just tired."

"Sleep" He whispered. And with that I fell asleep.

There was the familiar tingling feeling that I knew came from spirit dreams, and I opened my eyes to see myself by the lake at Hogwarts.

Adrian walked out from behind a tree and hugged me.

"Nice place Little Dhamphir, where is it from?

"It's where we're heading." I answered.

"Then how-"he stared, and then a thought occurred to him.

"Your two years away." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, Liss and I went there for a year before we were found."

"So you're a witch?" He asked uncertainly, his eyes wide.

"No, Liss compelled them. I loved it there." I carried on in a whisper. "It was like my family, we were all so close. It hurt to be away from them, and it hurt to keep it a secret from you guys, but it was necessary."

I didn't know why I was telling him this, but there was something that made me believe he would understand.

"I learnt a tiny bit of magic, but not much, just a few defensive spells and how to dodge spells that were aimed at me. Professor Dumbledore helped me develop my training by getting people from all over the world to teach me different techniques. He even got Petya Alekseev and Annoushka Sidorov to teach me some moves."

"Petya Alekseev! He's like one of the most famous guardians in the world! And Annoushka Sidorov is a female legend."

"Yep." I said popping the 'p' and smiling. "You know what that means?"

"No, what?" He asked with a mask of confusion on his face.

"It means I can kick Dmitri's ass."

"So you're even more badass then I thought, hey?" He said laughing.

I laughed with him and hugged him. We stayed like that for a while, just looking out at the lake, in each other's embrace. It was nice, relaxing and comforting.

All too soon the dream started to fade and I opened my eyes to find my head on Adrians shoulder, his arm around me and his head rested on my head.

I Glanced over at Dimitri. He was sitting next to Alberta who was reading a book. He glanced at me as he felt my gaze and a look of sadness flashed across his face as he saw the postion Adrian and I were in. It was soon replaces by his gauridan mask.

I closed my eyes again and wasn't awoken until we reached Hogwarts. I was a little anxious though. What is my friends wouldn't accept me because I'm not like them?

We all walked off the plane and into the courtyard where Dumbledore was waiting to meet us.

"Princess Dragomir, Miss Hathaway, lovely to see you again. It's a shame that our meeting is under such grave circumstances." Dumbledore smiled at us.

"It's good to see you too." Lissa replied, always the polite one. I felt her emotions through the bond. Lissa felt completely safe in the presence of Dumbledore and all the Guardians, yet there was a darkness nagging at the back of her mind. It was a mixture of Spirit induced darkness and fear of an attack from Voldemort.

Turning to the others, Dumbledore said "I am Professor Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of this school. Well Rose and Lissa, you can make your way towards the common room, I will call up to my office later. Guardian Hathaway, Guardian Petrov and Guardian Belikov, if you could follow me." Dumbledore strode across the cobbled courtyard with the Guardians' following him. Lissa and I led Christian, Mia, Eddie and Adrian to the common all gazed wonderingly at the talking portraits, moving staircases and floating ghosts . Lissa and I had already seen and gotten use to it all, so we didn't take too long, unlike the others who kept stopping to gaze at the things. At long last we reached the portrait of the fat lady.

"Oh err... Lissa what's the password?" I asked.

"I've no idea!"

"Rose!" Came a new voice.

"Neville!" I grinned at the tall lanky boy who had just walked around the corner. The year when Lissa and I had attended Hogwarts, we had travelled to the Ministry of Magic to help fight Deatheaters, Neville had come with us.

"Your back!"

I laughed. "Yep." Is aid, popping the 'p'.

"You don't remember the password by any chance do you?" Lissa asked him. Neville would have been the last person I'd have asked, as he was known for being notorious for forgetting things.

"Yeah I do for once – I wrote it on the back of my hand. It's 'Salve Novella Armici'."

And with that the portrait swung open.


	4. Chapter 4

**CH4 RPOV**  
As we entered, everyone in the room fell silent and stared at us. Then-  
"OMG! Rose! Lissa!" The voice belonged to Ginny Weasly, she was a small redheaded girl who was amazing at Quidditch, and Ron Weasley's little sister. Ginny came up to us and hugged both me and Lissa. By this time Eddie, Christian and Mia were all looking confused as to why we knew Neville and Ginny.  
Lissa started to talk to Ginny, so we all sat in the chairs that surrounded the fire place. Everyone else turned back to what they were doing and began talking all at once about us.  
"This is Eddie, Mia, Christian and Adrian." I told her, pointing to each of them.  
"I'm Ginny," she said, "It's nice to meet you."  
"Good to meet you too." Adrian replied with a dazzling smile that made Ginny blush.  
"So what are you doing here?" She asked. I was about to answer when Ron came in through the portrait hole. His eyes widened when he saw us and his mouth dropped forming an 'o'.  
"Rose! Lissa!" How many times had I heard that today? "Blimey! What are you doing here?" I just smiled at him and beckoned for him to join us and hugged him.  
He returned it then pulled away to hug Lissa.  
"Dumbledore wanted me to tell you guys and Ginny to come to his office."  
I sighed and stood up to follow him.  
"Come on." I said to my friends. They stood up and came with us out of the common room.  
We made our way to the office, Lissa was talking to Ron and I was walking in front talking to Ginny about general stuff.  
We arrived at Dumbledore's office and knocked.  
"Come in." came his voice.  
I walked into the room, leading everyone else, and was immediately attacked by a mass of brown. Two seconds later I realized that it was actually Hermione.  
"Rose! I've missed you so much!" she grinned.  
"So have I!" I smiled as she pulled away from me.  
"Harry!" I hugged him as well. He seemed rather quiet, and then I remembered that Sirius Black, his Godfather, had died last year and he was bound to feel sad. I knew exactly how he felt, especially after the death of Mason. I still feel like it's my fault, and I doubted that I would ever accept that it wasn't. No one understood the pain of having your best friend die on your hands. Especially when it was me that told Mason about the Strigoi sightings in Spokane.  
I pulled away from Harry and smiled at him. He seemed to guess what I was thinking about, and smiled sadly back at me.  
I glanced around Dumbledore's office. It hadn't changed much, but there were a few of his possessions seemed to had disappeared. In the corner of his office sat Fawkes, his Phoenix. Well, that explains the Phoenix patronus.  
"Well, I trust that you'll all be feeling at home very soon, but before I can send you on your way, I must tell you exactly why you are here. I am not sure how much Rosemarie and Vasilisa have told you yet, but as you may or may not know, Lord Voldemort has returned to power." I noticed that Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all flinched. "So Harry is having his lessons with me this term, and I also need to have some friends that are able to be committed to the fight against Voldemort. Dark forces are continuously trying to penetrate this castles walls, and I fear that they may be able to find a kink in our armor." He suddenly looked very grave. "I wish beyond all things that we don't need to fight, yet it seems inevitable."  
I also knew that there would most likely be a war, and I was ready. I knew what those Death Eaters were like.  
"Rose, Lissa, Christian, Eddie and Adrian. Here are your timetables for tomorrow. May your dreams be full of happy thoughts and events."  
He dismissed us all and we all left, feeling a lot more depressed than when we originally entered. This war against Voldemort seemed a lot darker and grim than the war against Strigoi. The fight against the Strigoi had lasted for centuries, yet seemed a lot worse than a war that had no way near been going on for as long as the Vampire war. The days seemed darker and more stuffy than those in Montana.  
"I wonder what your lessons are going to be about Harry." Hermiones voice cut through my thoughts, and I looked up to see that we were back in the common room.  
"I dunno." he replied. "Hopefully something useful, we're going to need it."  
"Er, is someone going to fill us in one what's going on? And how you guys already know each other?" asked Christian in his usual snarky attitude.  
Lissa and I looked at each other.  
"Well, basically," started Lissa. "When Rose and I ran away, we came to Hogwarts for the year and became friends with these guys. The only people that knew what we were was Dumbledore."  
Neither Lissa nor I mentioned anything that happened at the Ministry. Lissa was still feeling upset about everything that happened, and probably would be for a long time.  
Harry and I looked at each other, and a silent agreement passes between us that we shouldn't mention what happened at the Ministry to this lot. Especially as no one of the looked like they were passed their grief yet for Sirius yet. I had only known him briefly, when we spent Christmas with him and the Weasley's, but he seemed very kind, and was also best friends with Harry's father.  
"Well," yawned Ginny. "I'm going to hit the sack." Everyone murmured their agreement and we all trudged towards the dormitories. I was sharing a room with Lissa, Ginny, and Hermione.  
I pulled on my pajamas and collapsed on my bed. My mind spinning with everything that had happened today. Images swum around my head, and the last face I saw was Adrian's and Harry's before I finally fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

CH5 GTPOV

Harry awoke bright and early the next morning and reached for his glasses. The dorm that Harry usually shared with Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus had been magically expanded to make room for three other beds containing Christian, Eddie and Adrian. Harry glanced at his watch, put on his clothes, pulled on his robes and went downstairs. Sat in front of the fire, like she was last night, was Rose. 

"Hey." Yawned Harry as he sat in the squishy armchair next to her. 

"Hi." She smiled at him. 

They sat in a comfortable silence and waited for the others to join them, but Harry took this opportunity and looked at her. She had changed, not much, but it was still noticeable. There was something in her eyes that just made her seem more...sensible and responsible, she was in pain.  
Her long dark brown hair hung down past her shoulders and her olive coloured skin was flawless. She didn't hold herself up as much as she used to. She used to radiate confidence, she still did, but it wasn't as strong. Beautiful, she was beautiful. 

Soon the others had joined them and they made their way down to the great hall to have breakfast.

They sat down together and Ron began to help himself to food straight away. 

"Do you ever stop eating, Ronald?" Hermione asked. 

"Hey! I'm a growing boy!" He exclaimed through a mouthful of food. 

"A boy? Not a man?" Rose asked, teasing him. Everyone on their table burst out laughing as Ron turned bright red. 

Just then Professor McGonagall came and handed the new students their time tables.  
Rose and Lissa groaned. 

"What?" Christian asked. He and Lissa were having a minor argument about trust.  
"We have potions." Rose replied.  
"And that's bad because?" Asked Eddie.  
"We have it with the Slytherins! Every witch and wizard that has gone into that house has turned out to be evil! Well, apart from Anastasia Knight, she's actually quite nice." replied Rose.  
"But we also have it with Snape." Sighed Lissa miserably. 

They finished their breakfast and then made their way to the dungeons.  
"Well well well, if it isn't Hathaway and Dragomir, where did you go? Azkaban?" Sneered a cold voice.  
"Malfoy." Rose spat between clenched teeth. "The blonde ferret. I missed you."  
"You did?" Malfoy asked surprised.

"Yeah, I had no-one to beat up, well I did, but it just wasn't as fun. I enjoy seeing you in pain."  
"Stay away from me freak." He turned to go, and then looked back. "Good to see you again Dragomir." Then he walked into the classroom. 

"Who was he?" Asked Christian. 

"He's Draco Malfoy. His father was a governor of this school. He's a pure blood, thinks he's better than everyone else because of that. Lots of pure bloods think that because their pure bloods it gives them a higher status than everyone else. They hate muggle born's-" 

"Muggle borns?" Eddie interrupted Ron's rant. 

"Its a witch or wizard who have none-magical parents." Hermione put in. 

"Anyway, they hate muggle born's, and some even go as far as killing them, for fun."finished Ron. 

"That's just sick." Eddie exclaimed disgusted.  
Everyone murmured their agreements and went to sit down. 

Harry sat next to Ron, Rose next to Adrian, Lissa next to Christian, Mia next to Eddie and Hermione next to another Gryffindor student. 

"Good morning class, today we are going to be studying and learning about the Draught of Living Death, write down the title and the date. Copy down what is on the board." Snape waved his wand at the board as he came striding into the classroom, and writing appeared. 

"Can anyone tell me what the Draught of Living Death is?"  
Rose put her hand in the air and Snape turned towards her.  
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Miss Hathaway, someone I hate almost as much as Potter." 

"Good to see you too sir." Rose called out in reply. 

"Five points from Gryffindor." He called out. 

"What! Why?" Ron yelled out.  
"Tut tut Professor, you're not allowed to deduct points because of your personal feelings remember? Me, you and Professor Dumbledore had this conversation already, two years ago in fact." 

Snape's mouth curled up in distaste.  
"I took points away for you speaking out of turn, Hathaway. Now tell me, what is the Draught of Living Death? Anyone? No?" 

"Please, Sir, The Draught of Living Death is an extremely powerful sleeping potion. It sends the drinker into a deep trance that mimics the state of death." Hermione stated, as if reading it out of a textbook. 

"Another five points from Gryffindor for calling out."  
The rest of the lesson went by slowly, nothing interesting happened until Neville spilt his potion. 

"Longbottom! Do you like detentions? You have a weeks' worth, added on top of the week that you already have!"  
"It wasn't his fault professor and you know it!" Rose yelled angrily.  
"Would you also like to join Mr Longbottom in detention?" Rose stared at him. "No, I thought not, now get back to your work." 

"No. Give me the detentions instead on Neville."  
The whole class sat in an astonished silence. Amazed at the sacrifice Rose was making for Neville. Professor Snape looked around the class and sneered. 

"Very well, you and Neville have a weeks' detention, Mr Potter, you may also join them for making rude remarks." He added to Harry, who was insulting Professor Snape under his breath. Harry scowled, but didn't complain, knowing it would only make matters worse.  
The rest of the class was spent in silence. 

"So Hathaway, why'd you stick up for Longbottom? Got a little crush on him?"  
"Piss of Malfoy." Rose grumbled.  
"Why? So you can have alone time with Longbottom?"  
"Look out Malfoy before I lose my temper!"  
"What are you going to do? Punch me?" He laughed, and his cronies were in hysterics. 

Harry saw something in Rose snap. A sudden darkness seemed to flash across her face, and he wondered what had brought it on. He had to admit that Malfoy was an annoying frog, but Rose never used to get so angry so quickly. 

"Rose." Adrian said warningly, a restraining hand on her arm, but she shrugged it off, pulled back her arm and snapped it forward so it made contact with Malfoy's jaw. There was a loud crack and Draco fell to the floor screaming in pain. 

"What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall's voice reached them and they all looked up. She saw Draco on the floor and ran over to him. 

"Who did this?" She asked, anger laced her voice.  
"I did, Professor." Admitted Rose.  
"Fifteen points from Gryffindor. Crabbe, Goyle, take Mr Malfoy to the Hospital wing please." They took him away and Professor McGonagall gave Rose a disapproving look.  
"Why?"  
"He provoked me, Professor."  
"Don't do it again Miss Hathaway or there will be serve consequences." They nodded in understanding. 

"It's good to have you back though." McGonagall nearly smiled, which was extremely rare for her, and carried on down the corridor.  
After potions they went to Herbology, which they had with Hufflepuffs. Professor Sprout was generally happy that Rose and Lissa had returned.  
At lunch they all ate together. 

"How has your day been so far? Do you like Hogwarts?" Harry asked Adrian.  
"Yeah. Its an amazing place, and besides, I'm happy as long as I'm with my Little Dhamphir." He said and put his arm around Rose. She just laughed and rolled her eyes. 

"Are you two...together?" Hermione asked curiously and something raged inside Harry. Adrian looked at him confused, noticing the sudden flash of annoyance cross Harry's face. 

"No, he's just a flirt."  
The rest of the day went by quickly and was full of laughs and smiles. And they went to bed that day felling on top of the world despite the knowledge that danger was coming.


	6. Chapter 6

C6  
RPOV 

School was rather uneventful. No one outside our little group of friends knew exactly what we were. Yet I knew people were whispering about us when they thought I couldn't hear or see them. I saw Dimitri, my Mom and Alberta often, as I still had my training with Dimitri, and they were also teaching combat classes to the Wizards and Witches so that if they ever met a Dark wizard they'd be able to protect themselves if they were disarmed. 

Me and my friends had been invited back to the Weasley's for Christmas, but it was just Lissa, Dimitri, Harry, Hermione and I going because Christian had to spend Christmas with his Aunt Tasha, Adrian had business at Court and with the Queen, my mom and Alberta had gone to check on things back at the Academy and Eddie had gone home to see his family. Dimitri came with us for Lissa, because even though we had the protection of the Order of the Phoenix, they weren't exactly experts in

Strigoi killing. Death Eater killing however, they were.  
Adrian, the Guardians, Christian and Eddie were all getting the school's private jet back to America, so they weren't on the Hogwarts with us. It had been ages since I'd been on the train, and I felt comfortable in the familiar compartments. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lissa,Ginny, Luna, Neville, Dimitri and I all got a compartment together. It was the first time that we'd all been together since the Ministry (excluding Dimitri), and we all sat in silence for a while, just thinking about what happened. Dimitri sat in the corner reading one of his crap western books. God, can that man read anything other than westerns?

About an hour into the journey, a gray barn owl rapped its beak on the window of the compartment. Harry looked up in surprise and opened the window. He untied the letter that was attached to the Owl's leg. It flew into the air at once and flapped away. I watched Harry look torridly at the letter while he opened it. I knew what went through his mind every time he got a letter. He worried that he was about to be told that someone had been hurt. Or worse, dead.  
Harry read the letter and I saw his face look relieved. The only person that seemed to notice Harry's expressions was me. I'd been trained for it. 

"Who's it from?" asked Hermione.  
Harry glanced out of the compartment door window and then back to Hermione. 

"Moony." he replied. Personally, I had no idea who 'Moony' was. It must have been a codename for someone, seeing as there were a few students passing past the compartment, and could have easily overheard who it was from.  
He passed the letter to us. 

Harry,  
I can't say much in case it's intercepted, but the Order and myself will meet you at the station when you get off of the train. We'll tell you where we're going from there.  
Moony 

I'd have to ask them later who Moony actually was.  
Ron sighed. "I wish the car could still fly."  
"Car?" asked Lissa. 

"Yeah, my Dad used to have a Ford Anglia that could fly, but Harry and I kind of accidentally crashed into this mental tree that tried to kill us in our Second Year." Ron grinned at Harry.  
"Yeah, whatever happened to it anyway?" laughed Harry.  
"It's still in our garage actually. I think Dad's given up on it though." 

The trolly lady passed then and all conversation on flying cars was put to a hold as everyone bought some food. Dimitri got up and said he needed to talk to the Driver about something. 

I still didn't know how I felt about our relationship. I was kind of pissed off at him for avoiding me,(yeah I know, I'm avoiding him too, but that's beside the point) even though I could see his point about the fact that no one could know about us. I wished life could just be normal, and we could have an ordinary relationship, that everyone could know about. I loved Dimitri, and I probably always would, no matter how pissed off I was with him. But on the other hand I had Adrian, who I could have an open relationship with. I mean yeah, he wasn't Dimitri, but he was nearly as good as him, minus the drinking, smoking, women and God only knows what else. 

As I sat there thinking to myself about my crap love life, I hadn't noticed that we'd pulled into Kings Cross train station. I stood up, grabbed my bag, and followed the rest of them out of the door.  
We stepped onto the crowded platform, and Dimitri and I flanked Lissa, our eyes sweeping the platform. Even though it was daylight, there's no telling what could happen, especially with Wizards out to get us as well as humans helping Strigoi. 

Harry lead us over to a group that was trying to look inconspicuous. Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody and Nymphadora Tonks stood waiting for us. I knew them from the last time we'd been at Hogwarts, and they'd also helped fight in the battle at the Ministry. Dimitri and the Order members shook hands and introduced themselves. 

"Rose, Lissa, it's good to see you again." smiled Lupin kindly. 

"You too, Remus." replied Lissa.  
We all followed Lupin out of the station and across the road to a small pub, with a sign hanging above the door reading: The Leaky Cauldron.  
Mad-Eye nodded to Tom the barman, and we all went upstairs into a small bedroom. Tonks pointed her wand at the empty fireplace, and it burst into life. Green flames licked the cobbled stone and the cold room instantly warmed up a bit.  
Mad-Eye reached into his cloak and produced a pot of powder. 

"Remember what to do?" he asked us all gruffly.  
We all nodded, even though I knew Dimitri had no idea what to do. 

"I'll go first." I volunteered. I stepped away from the group and up to Mad-Eye. I grabbed a fistful of the dark grainy powder and stepped into the fire. 

"The Burrow!" I cried, and I shot felt myself being pulled into the fire. As I shot through the fireplace I saw tons of rooms fly past me. I was moving too fast to see clearly what was inside of them, but I assumed that living rooms were on the other end of them. I started to feel nauseous, luckily not the type of nausea that told me that Strigoi were nearby, but the sea sick type of nausea. Just as I felt like I was about to throw up I finally landed with a puff of ash in a small and cluttered kitchen. 

"Rose! It's good to see you again dear!" Came the voice of Molly Weasly, as she hugged me tightly.

"Are the others behind you?" she asked me, and I could see worry creasing her forehead. 

"Yeah, I'd better move out of the way actually." I said. I wouldn't really apreciate it if someone suddenly landed on top of my head. Mrs Weasley made me sit at the table and gave me a cup of tea.

Over the next five minutes, Lissa, Dimitri, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lupin, Tonks and Madeye all appeared one by one in the middle of the Weasley's small kitchen. Mrs Weasley greeted them all the same way that she did me. 

"Rose," Dimitri pulled me aside. "We don't have enough Moroi with different types of Magic to create wards, so we're going to have to walk the perimeter in shifts." I nodded. I hadn't considered an attack from the Strigoi while we were actually at the Weasley's.  
Dimitri and I made a plan, and then we all settled in to have a nice Christmas Holidays.


	7. Chapter 7

The first week at the Weasleys was a blur. Lissa and I met Bill Weasley, and his fiancee Fleur Delacour. Most of us didn't like her. She was annoying, french, and complained at everything. Not to mention unnaturally beautiful. Now, when I say "most of us" I mean the women. Mrs Weasley in particular, all of the men in the house however drooled after her, and looked like they'd wait on her hand and foot. The things men do for love. 

Dimitri, as it turns out, knew Mr and Mrs Weasley, (seriously? How does that guy know everyone? He's supposed to be anti-social for god's sake!) and so they got along very well.  
On Christmas Eve we found ourselves all sat in the Weasley's crowded living room. Mrs Weasley was listening to someone singing on the radio, and the rest of us were just chatting quietly. I found myself sat in front of the fire with Lupin and Harry. 

Lupin sipped his mulled wine thoughtfully, and Harry stared dejectedly into the fire. Finally, I couldn't take the pressing silence. 

"Are you okay Harry?" I asked. I knew the answer though. I'd noticed it all term, He'd been joining in conversations and activities with his usual gusto, but I could see that there was something off. He was a lot more serious than usual, and sometimes I'd catch him staring randomly into space. He was like me. He was missing and thinking about Sirius, just like I was missing and thinking about Mason. 

Harry glanced up at me from the fire. "Yeah, I'm fine." 

"No. You're not. And I bet, if I look through the bond, and see what you're aura looked like to Lissa, it would show that you're lying." I chastised him, trying to look like a someone telling him off, yet failing miserably. "I know what you're going through." I told him softly. He whipped his head round to look at me.  
"You do?" 

"Yes, I do." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lupin watching us curiously. 

"You feel like it's all your fault and everyday you suffer with guilt. You may smile and laugh and look all happy, and your friends may believe it, but inside your dying. Little things around you, actions that other people do, constantly reminds you of them. Every day you wake up and walk down the stairs, expecting to see the smiling face shining up at you and every day you're disappointed. The guilt it's-it's terrible, it feels like it's eating away at your heart. You soon start to question why we even bother living when all that life does is repeatedly rips your heart open. You blame yourself for your arrogance and your ignorance, and keep on thinking of ways you could prevent." By this time there were tears in my eyes and I was staring blankly into the fire. 

"I miss him and I know others do too. Like Eddie, they were best friends, and it's my fault he doesn't have him anymore, it's all my fault!" I cried. 

"It wasn't your fault." Harry told me quietly. 

"Then why does it feel like it is?" 

"What happened?" Lupin asked, as he took out his wand, waved it and a cup of hot chocolate appeared in the air in front of him. He handed it to me with a concerned smile.  
"We were at a Ski lodge, in Idaho, for the Christmas holidays. There had recently been an attack from a large group of Strigoi, so everyone was in a panic." I paused to take a sip of my hot chocolate.

"Dimitri had told me that the Guardians had discovered that the Strigoi might be in Spokane, hiding out in some tunnels. He said he told me because he thought I was mature enough to keep the information for myself, and because he trusted me. Right after he told me, I got pissed off at him because- about something, and left." I nearly stumbled, but kept why I was angry at him, to myself.

"Mason came into my room, and I told him about the Strigoi, because I was mad at Dimitri. Then Mason and I got in a fight about something, and he stormed out. Later I discovered that he, Mia and Eddie had used compulsion on the Guardians and took a bus into Spokane. Christian and I went after them, and were about to go home when some humans kidnapped us all and took us to a house." I paused, and I thought about everything that had happened, and why I Mason and I got in an argument. Skipping all of the unimportant parts is continued. We managed to get out of the basement where the Strigoi were keeping us captive, only for them to find us on the first floor. Christian, Eddie and Mia managed to get out, but Mason and I stayed behind to try to get rid of the Strigoi. And then the male Strigoi, he-he snapped his neck." my voice turned into a sob on the word snapped. "I decapitated the two Strigoi with some swords."

Silent tears streamed down my face, as I remembered how easily and quickly Mason's life was taken away. Life and death are so close to each other. Like a tightrope walker, one mistake and they could fall to their death. 

"When will the pain go away?" I whispered to Harry. 

He had no answer. Nobody ever does. They keep feeding you these false lies and expect you to believe them, and when you question the lies, they don't have answers yet still expect you to believe them. 

I hadn't opened up to anyone like this before, not even to Dimitri. But it felt good to let this all out. Harry and I were close and he understood what I was going through. He understood in a way no-one else did. 

I felt Harry pull me into his arms and place a kiss on top of my head. He said nothing, no words needed to be exchanged. We were lost in our memories. 

I sighed, looking round the room I noticed Adrian watching me with a pained expression. He caught my eye and looked away. 

Standing up, I ignored Harry's protests and walked over to Adrian. 

"What's the matter?" I asked, concern evident in my voice. 

"Nothing." He said turning away and starting up a conversation with Ginny. I felt a pang of hurt in my heart. I sat on the sofa, in silence again. 

I spaced out for most of the evening, not listening to the conversations, only talking when something was directed at me specifically. The rejection I had felt when Adrian refused to acknowledge me was overwhelming. 

Soon Adrian walked out, saying that he wanted some 'fresh air'. I decided to follow him. I wanted to know what was wrong. My heart ached with a need to cure whatever was hurting him.  
"Please Adrian. Tell me what's wrong." I placed my hand on his arm, but he shrugged it off and stared at the sky or just stared at anything that wasn't me. 

"I see the way Harry looks at you Rose, and his aura whenever you're around, it's-" He sighed and ran his hand through his already messy hair. "He loves you." He finished in a whisper.  
I stared at him incredulously. My mind going haywire. Harry loves me? I thought. But what about Ginny? I opened my mouth to speak but Adrian beat me too it. 

"You love him too." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "How come you can love him and Dimitri but not me?" He voice sounded so sad, and I hated myself. I hated myself for causing him this pain.  
But the thing was, he had it wrong. Well he had it right, but I only loved Harry like a brother, nothing more and nothing less. Didn't he understand that? Couldn't he see it in my aura? 

"Adrian-" I started, but he cut me off  
"Don't Rose. Don't play or try to spare my emotions please." The look in his eye was heartbreaking. I never knew he could be this emotional. 

I was at loss as to what to say. So I just stared at him. Unconsciously, we began inching closer to one another, and as he stared at me with those Emerald Green eyes, all thoughts of anything vanished, and my heart started beating faster as his hand cupped my face and my cheeks flushed in anticipation. 

His lips were just centimeters from mine when I pushed him away. The pain in his eyes killed me, but I just couldn't do it. 

He smiled a sad smile and walked away, shoulders sagged, Defeated. Rejected.  
Tears sprang in my eyes as I watched, then I turned and looked at the stars. 

Why did I reject him? I asked myself. Oh yeah, It was because I was still trying to get over Dimitri, I didn't want to kiss Adrian knowing I was still in love with Dimitri. Or was I? 

His touch doesn't have the same affect on me that it once had. The shivers that his voice gives me don't seem important. 

Maybe, just maybe I was falling out of love with him. Maybe just maybe I was getting over him. I didn't know. All that I hated was the fact he – him merely existing was getting in the way of me having a relationship with Adrian, but then again, why did I want a relationship with him?  
It was all too much to cope with. 

I turned around and went back inside. Adrian was nowhere to be seen, so I guessed he was in his room. They all looked up when I came in. 

"Are you alright, dear?" Mrs Weasley asked in concern. 

"I fine." I answered with a small smile, she didn't look convinced. "I'm going to go to bed, it's been a long day and I'm tired." 

"Ok then sweetie, call me if you need anything." 

I nodded my thanks and heeded upstairs to Ginny's room. I undressed then slid under the covers and closed my eyes, trying to block out the world. Trying to block out the pain, the sadness and the strife. Trying to block out my life.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Christmas Day

APOV (Adrian)

Waking up, I glanced at the clock on my bedside table and groaned as I saw it was eight in the morning, human time. Seriously, if I was human, I wouldn't get up until at least 11.

Bleary eyed, I automatically reached over for my bottle of Vodka that I kept next to the clock. After a couple of minutes of groping around, I remembered that I was somewhere in England, not at St. Vlad's where my alcohol was.

I sighed tiredly and sat up. Memories of my conversation with Rose last night ran through my head, and I regretted what I'd done and said to her,

Maybe he didn't love her. But Harry damn well sure had feelings for her. I could see his aura burning red whenever he was around her. You didn't even need to use Spirit to see that he was smitten with her, he had the same face that I did whenever I looked at Rose.

I pushed the depressing thoughts aside and got ready to go downstairs. As I did, I saw Rose out of the window. She had no coat on, and was standing in the snow, staring at the sky. I could tell by the expression on her face that she was deep in thought. I was transfixed by her beauty and only snapped out of my trance as I watched her disappear back into the house.

I walked down the stairs and into the Weasley's small living room which had a large Christmas tree crammed into it. Everyone (Dimitri, Harry, Hermione, the Weasley's, Lissa, Alberta and Lupin) was gathered around, talking to each other and wishing merry Christmas's to each other, as I sat down next to Lissa, who smiled at me. About thirty seconds later, Rose entered the room and sat on the other side of Lissa. The chatter died down a little as we started to pass presents. Rose handed Lissa a large box wrapped in pink paper. Lissa eagerly opened it and gasped at what she took out.

"Oh, Rose, it's beautiful!" She cried. Pulling out, I saw that it was a dress. It was sky blue with spaghetti straps and it was knee length. Along the hem were jewels and beads, indicating that I cost a lot. Studying Lissa's aura, I saw that she was both deeply touched and worried about the price. Lissa hugged Rose and then passed her her present. It was a small, black rectangular shaped box with a red bow on top. Rose opened it and inside was a shiny silver stake. The side flourishes spiraled out into spirals, and in the center of the spirals were small roses. The blade had a feint flower pattern winding up it's body, and I could see that it said Хранитель вечности on it. Rose looked in awe at the stake and then wrapped Lissa in a massive hug. Soon, numerous presents were being handed round and I lost track because there were so many. Rose gave Harry some joke products from Weasley Wizard Wheezers, Hermione gave Rose a strategy book, Rose gave me a bottle of Russian Vodka as a joke, and a new watch, and I looked on in jealousy as I saw what Harry got Rose. It was a silver necklace with a tiny sword made of diamonds dangling from it. She thanked him and he put on her for her. I glared angrily at him as his stupid hands brushed her neck.

Dimitri gave Rose a tube of lip gloss and they both laughed, and she gave him a warm and friendly hug. Finally, it was my turn to give her her present. I watched her open it, and she grinned when she saw what the first part of it was. I'd bought her J'adore by Dior. The second present was a charm bracelet with a rose and a heart dangling from it. She thanked me and kissed me on the cheek. I smiled tightly at her, wanting nothing more than to wrap her up in my arms and never let go.

I know she thought I wasn't serious about my feelings for her, and that she thought all I wanted to do was get her into bed with me, but it's not true. Her touch sends shivers down my spine, and her smile took my breath away. She really was outstanding and she made em feel things that I'd never felt for girls before. All I felt got the girls in my past was lust. With Rose it was deeper than that. It killed me to be away from her, and it hurt to be so close yet unable to touch her.

Her voice hypnotized me, like she was using compulsion, and whenever another guys touches her, anger and jealousy would rise in me. I loved her. I loved her, but she didn't love me. The worlds unfair like that though, and it slowly rips apart your heart, leaving your soul shattered. I tried so hard to convince myself that I didn't love her when I first met her, love wasn't something I believed in, but she drew me in and I fell for her. The saying that "better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all" was wrong. I haven't lost Rose, but I may have well of. It's not better to love and lose someone because that kills you on the inside, but if you never love, you'll never have to live through that depression.

I had no chance in hell of winning her over, either. I had to compete with the liked of Belikov, Mason and Harry. I had money and charms, but what else did I have? If she was with me, she would forever be looked down on as a blood whore. Moroi and Dhampir relationships just don't happen long term. I'd give anything to be with her. I'd give up my name, family, money, cigarettes. Even my vodka. If only she knew what she meant to me.

My thoughts were interrupted, however, by Ron, who walked into the living room looking worried.

"Has anyone seen Ginny?" No one had. "I've looked everywhere for her. She's not in the house, or the garden, and I've got a feeling that something's happened to her."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9  
RPOV 

As soon as Ron said that, I was hit with a wave of nausea so strong that I stumbled back from the force of it. 

"Strigoi."I stated, looking over at Dimitri and Alberta.  
Dimitri nodded. "How many?"  
"Less than five."

"Should be easy." 

"Rose, stay here and look after the wizards, make sure that none get through and get to them. Alberta go round to the back and I'll go round the front." Dimitri was is full Guardian mode and his face was full of concentration as he thought out a game plan. 

"No way." I said fiercly. 

"Rose-" Dimitri started with a sigh, but I cut him off. 

"No. I'm not going to stand back and let everyone else fight. Plus five Strigoi can easily overpower you if they've got the skills, and these guys have their wands to protect them." 

Dimitri looked like her was going to argue but then his facial expression changed. He knew me well enough to know that I wasn't the listening-and-being-a-good-little-angel type. Plus, we didn't have time to argue. His face looked weary, but he nodded once at me. 

We ran out, leaving the others behind with worried expressions. Out on the front garden we saw four Strigoi – two female, two male – and Ginny. Adrenaline coursed through my veins and I switched to Baddass Hathaway mode.  
Running forward I pulled out my stake. The first Strigoi faced me. He got into a stance as I ran toward him, flipped into a handstand, wrapped my legs around his head and twisted quickly. I heard his neck snap and we both fell to the ground, him on his back, me on my feet, standing above his head. He would only be incapacitated for a couple of minutes so I staked him while he was down.

I turned to the three in time to see them knock out Dimitri and then they turned and ran to a car – it was a sky blue Vintage VW Bug. Not exactly the type of car you expect an evil kick ass Striogoi to use as their getaway vehicle. They sped off and I couldn't do anything but watch as they disappeared into the distance with Ginny as a hostage.  
Alberta ran from the back of the house to see Dimitri. About five minutes later he awoke and sat up. 

"Where'd they go?" He asked, slurring his words a bit, and looking slightly disorientated. 

"They took her." I growled. 

"She's as good as dead then." sighed Alberta sadly. 

"No!" I yelled. "We've got to go after her." 

"I don't know Rose..." Alberta said uncertainly.  
I quickly thought things through of what I could use to my advantage. "Think about it, if we find Ginny maybe we'll find answers." 

"Answers to what?" 

"Why they took Ginny? How they found us? Etc." I replied quickly. "Please, she's like a sister to me." Alberta's expression softened at that. 

"Very well. We'll leave in an hour, but first we need to plan and pack." 

"Pack? Plan? We don't have time for that!"

"Think rationally, Rose." I glared at Dimitri, even though he was right. Not like I was going to tell him that. 

I stormed back into the house. 

"What's going on?" Harry asked, who had his wand out, along with the rest of the Weasley's and co. 

I looked sadly at Mrs Weasley. "Ginny's been taken. But don't worry, we're going to go find her." Mrs Weasley let out a sob, sat down and cried.  
Harry, Ron and Hermione moved like one and came to stand next to me. "We're coming with you." 

"No you're not!" I exclaimed. It was fine if an expendable Dhampir went on a suicide mission, but Harry, Ron and Hermione were going to play a big part in the battle against Voldemort. They definitely were not expendable. 

"Look, we're either going to go with your "permission" or without, but it'd make it a lot easier on us if we could go with you, and not trying to sneak along." said Harry snarkily, reminding me a lot of Christian.  
I just looked at the three of them with their defiant expressions. I sighed. "Fine. Pack light." 

I went off into the room I'd been sharing with Hermione and Ginny, and shoved a change of clean clothes into a bag, a map and a couple of silver rings, then made my way back down stairs where Ron, Hermione, Harry, Dimitri and Alberta were waiting for me. I shoved the stake that I was still holding into the side of my boot, and we stood around the car outside. I spread out the map on the hood and we all looked at it, trying to decide where a likely hide out spot would be. 

"Okay, well it's nearly daylight, so they've got to stop somewhere. But again, that could be anywhere, seeing as all they have to do is check into a hotel." The six of us pored over the map, when I suddenly thought of something.  
I walked backwards away from the car, and down to the floor. Thick mud covered every space, and you could clearly see where we'd had our fight and then...yes! Tire marks. 

"Guys," I called. "We should just follow the tire marks. We're not near any busy roads so there's going to be barely any other tracks to confuse us." I started to get excited, finally we had some form of a lead.  
Everyone agreed with me, and I felt happy to have found something that no one else had. We all got into the car. Dimitri and Alberta were in the front, with me, Ron, Hermione and Harry all squashed in the back. We drove on, following the tracks as we went. We didn't see any other cars, but even if we did, the most trouble we'd get in is getting a ticket for not wearing our seat belts. Finally, we reached the main road, and came to a gas station.


	10. Chapter 10

CH 10 GTPOV

Ginny woke up after having blacked out five minutes later. Her head hurt and she tried to remember what happened. So far she remembered that she had been walking outside to get some fresh air, away from the business of the Burrow, and more importantly, away from Harry.

It was obvious to her that Harry only had eyes for Rose, and well, who can blame him? She was beautiful, fierce and had a great sense of humour. Who would notice little ginger her when Rose was around?

Suddenly she had felt hands grab her, she had tried to scream, but something was out over her mouth which prevented her from doing that.

Then she remembered watching from a car as Rose and Dimitri tried to fight their way through Strigoi to save her, but Dimitri was hit and the Strigoi managed to take her.

She remembered that through it all, she hadn't seen Harry fight to save her, he hadn't een come outside. And that hurt, it hurt more than when the Strigoi had knocked her out. Hurt more because it affected her heart and her feelings.

She opened her eyes, to see a pair of red ones staring down at her. His skin was pale white, and his hair was a light ginger and his hands were wrapped around her wrists. Digging in to her skin and hurting her so she couldn't get away.

"Hello beautiful." He sneered, he had a Scottish accent that really didn't suit him. She had expected something a little more intimidating, but she didn't dare laugh.

"Get of me." She threatened. "Let me go."

"And why should I do that?" He asked in return, not at all phased by the glare she sent him.

"Why not?" She asked sweetly.

He threw back his head and laughed. "I'm going to love having you around. Your feisty"

Ginny wriggled and managed to free one hand with out him noticing. She drew that fist back and snapped it forward. It hit him in the jaw and he cried out in pain, but as the fist connected it had sent a shooting pain all the way up her arm.

Ginny cursed loudly and cradled her arm.

"You deserve it, haven't you ever been told not to hit a strigoi when you have no experience? Try that again and you'll be sporting more than a hurt fist. Of that I can assure you."

He lent down and whispered in her ear. "You're mine now, I can do whatever I want with you, I can kill you. And if having your life end doesn't mean much to you, what about Harrys? You don't want him to die now do you? No. So you will do exactly what we say, when we say. Understand.?"

She nodded, currently unable to speak, she took back what she thought earlier – Scottish strigoi _could _be scary.

"Now, let me show you what will happen if you _don't _behave and do as we ask.

Her heart was beating fast in her chest and her palms were sweating with nervousness. She watched, powerless, as the Strigoi bent down and grazed his teeth along her neck. She gasped. Realizing what was going to do. The cried in pain as his teeth sunk into her skin.

The pain was soon replaces by pleasure as the endorphins kicked in, and then, all to soon, it was over. Shock filled Ginny at the thought of what happened and she realized that she needed to get away. Fast.

Scanning the area she saw a gas station nearing, and without thinking about she told the strogoi to stop so she could use the bathroom. They reluctantly agreed and came to a stop.

She thought about running, but knew it was pointless. They were faster and stronger than her. There was nothing she could do. She had left her wand on her bedside table, an action that she now regretted.

She made her way to the bathroom and the Strogoi followed her.

"Wait. You can't come in here, it's strictly girls only, and I can't go with you guys standing there, ok?" The shared a quick glance with each other and nodded.

She entered the ladies bathroom just as one shouted:

"You better be quick."

She looked around. She had no clue on how she was going to escape or anything. So she did the only thing she could, she went to the loo.

While she was washing her hands, she looked in the mirror and saw that she had some toilet paper stuck to her shoe and she smiled. She felt round in her pockets and realized that she had some of the pink lipstick in her pocket that Harry had given to her last year.

She took the lid of and starting writing a message on the mirror. Vaguely she remembered that the Strigoi had been talking about signing into the Deer Park Hotel in Devon. For strong, powerful, immortal beings, they were pretty stupid.

After she was done she put the lipstick back into her pocket and re-read the message. Nodding to herself she decided it was good and clear, then she tore a long piece of toilet paper and attached it to her shoe and walked out.

"I'm ready."

"About time, let's go." The ginger Strigoi replied. He took her arm again so she couldn't run.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see the other strigoi laughing at her and pointing to the toilet paper. She ignored them and made her way to the car. Just before she climbed in, she detached the toilet paper from her shoe and prayed that this idea would work.

The car set of, and it was only then that she realized how alone she truly was. Fighting back the tears that suddenly threatened to escape, she looked straight ahead and decided that she wasn't going to show weakness and that, with all certainty she would see her family again. She would see Harry again.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11.  
HPOV  
Dimitri, Rose, Alberta, Hermione, Ron, Lissa and I were all squashed into Mr Weasley's Ford Anglia. Dimitri and Alberta were in the front, seeing as they're the most experienced in there things, and the rest of us sat in the back. None of us said a thing as we all kept our eyes glued to the road, scanning it for the tire tracks that we were following. 

As I sat in between Ron and Rose, images of a dead Ginny ran through my mind.

Multiple scenarios played out like a silent movie behind my eyes. Ginny with a broken neck. Ginny with blood gushing down her neck.  
Ginny with pale skin and red eyes. 

That was the worst one. My heart sank. I'd never actually seen a real Strigoi before, but I'd been given detailed descriptions of one multiple times by different people. I had no idea how Rose, Dimitri and Alberta could stand killing them. I mean yeah, I've been in my fare share of duels with Death Eaters, but I've never killed one, I just incapacitated them. These guardians have been trained to kill. 

Unfortunately, thinking about Rose killing these deadly creatures forced my imagination to run out of control. Pictures of Ginny with flaming red hair and dripping fangs bared flashed like bright city lights. The realization of Ginny being cut out of my life, hurt almost as much as it did when Sirius died.  
This situation was close to the time when Ginny was lured into the Chamber of Secrets by Tom Riddle's Diary. I'd been in a panic last time, but for some reason, I felt the same but my feelings were heightened. I felt more afraid for her than I'd been before. I guess I felt the same when we were at the Ministry last year, but my worry had been mainly for Sirius as well as everyone else that had come with us. 

I looked at Rose and she squeezed my arm reassuringly. 

"We'll get to her before it's too late." She whispered to me.  
I'm not sure of who's definition of 'too late' she was referring too. My definition was death, but I suppose to someone who'd been in the business long enough, death was better than being forced into turning into a Strigoi.  
I nodded at her, and continued staring out of the window. For the past few weeks, I'd thought I'd had feelings for Rose, but I think now that I like the idea of Rose, not actually being with her. Our friendship was somewhat like mine and Hermione's. Friends, but nothing more. The best thing about being friends with Rose was that she was easy to be around. I mean, I expected myself to be shocked at the fact that she was actually a vampire, but her species didn't deter me away from her. The only person I could imagine myself being with right now was Ginny. 

I glanced sideways at Ron. His face showed worry and distress, and I suddenly felt a little guilty about thinking of Ginny in a more than 'my-best-friend's-sister' kind of way. I shouldn't have been thinking like that in the first place, I need to solely think about finding Ginny and making sure she was safe.  
Finally the tire tracks seemed to stop somewhere. A gas station. The mud and snow had started to melt, but the tracks seemed to be fading away towards the gas station so that seemed the most likely place to look for clues. The gas station was red and yellow and looked kind of run down. A bored looking middle-age guy stood behind the counter in the little shop reading a news agents.  
Dimitri pulled over, gave Hermione some money, and told her to get some gas while we looked around. Everyone got out and I followed Rose into the little shop. 

"Excuse me," she strode up to the guy and looked at him. 

The guy put down his paper and gave Rose a one over. Perv. 

"Can I help you?" He asked in a suggestive voice. 

Rose wrinkled her nose slightly but continued. "Have you seen a VW Bug around here lately?" 

"Yeah, sure. They paid for some gas and a small red head came and asked me if she could use the bathroom." The guy shuddered slightly. "They had really creepy eyes. Red. Or maybe it was just my imagination." He looked a little confused. 

"Thanks." I said, seeing as Rose had already started heading to the girls bathroom. Even though I'd been in the girls toilets back at Hogwarts in my second year, but even those had been out of order. I had some boundaries. 

I walked out of the shop and leaned against the hood of the Ford Anglia.  
"Where's Rose?" Dimitri asked me. 

"She's in the toilets. The guy behind the counter said Ginny had gone into the bathrooms, so she's going to see if Ginny left anything behind."  
Dimitri nodded. 

"Did you find anything?" I asked him. 

Dimitri shook his head. "No, there aren't anymore tire tracks either. If we don't find anything here, I think we should call the Alchemists and see if they've seen or heard anything a-" 

Dimitri was interrupted by Rose walking up to us. She was holding her phone and held it out for us to look. The others seemed to sense she'd found something, so they gathered round us. Rose had taken a picture on her phone of what looked like a large mirror. On the mirror Ginny had written a message in red lipstick. Or what I hoped was lipstick. 

Going to stop at the next hotel before sunrise. They're a couple of idiots, but be quick, they look hungry. 

It was short but helpful. 

And that was exactly what we needed. Everyone hurried into the car and Dimitri raced us out of the gas station and down the street.  
This is going to be a long day...


	12. Chapter 12

_**Dedicated to DimitriloveRose for being the most amazing fan ever! Thanks for all the reviews.**_

**Ch 12 RPOV**

We raced down the road in the ford. Nobody was talking; everyone was lost in their own thoughts about Ginny.

Looking to my right I saw countless trees go by.

Ginny was a genius leaving that message and it really was very helpful. I just hoped we could get there in time. If anything happened to her, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. She was a sister in every way but blood and the thought of her getting injured cut deeply.

I didn't express these emotions; throughout all of this I wore my guardian mask, just like every other guardian present. However the others made their emotions clear. You could see the fear and the worry in Hermione's eyes, and every now and then when she thought no-one was looking she shed a tear.

Ron was silent, not making a single sound and he didn't move either. His brown eyes were filled with tears and worry for his only sister, and my heart went out to him, wishing that I could do something I could do to see his cheesy smile again, but there wasn't.

I looked over at Harry. He was staring out the window at the passing scenery. I knew that he loved Ginny; after all she was his best friend's sister. However I also knew that his love for her something like my love for Dimitri's, he just hadn't realized it yet.

After hours we finally stopped the car. The hotel was just around the corner.

"Right. We check in for the night, we'll take it in turns to keep watch, one watches their car, another watches everyone on our room. Any questions?" Alberta asked.

We shook our heads, started the car and parked it in the hotel car park. A couple of spaces down we saw the car the Strigoi had driven and made our way to the reception.

The hotel was like many other hotels. It was all white and gold. Dimitri checked us in and booked a room for us all, and while the receptionist mindlessly flirted with Dimitri I looked around. I did this for two reasons, 1) to scan the area and look for possible threats, and two – so this way I wouldn't feel the need to rip of the receptionists head. I mean, who does she think she is?

I glared at the wall as I reminded myself that Dimitri and I weren't together so it didn't matter if she flirted with him.

Love is a lot harder than books make out to be. In books the girl and boy always end up together despite what they thought at first. But in real life, things are different. There are tragic deaths, injuries and age differences that separate two people, and working through them is hard. In books you hear about how girls cry other boys, and you start to think they are wimps, but it's not until you yourself go through it that you realize, that actually they reaction was pretty realistic.

I was brought out of my thoughts by someone yelling my name. I turned and saw none other than Mia Rinaldi.

"Rose! It's so good to see you! What are you doing here?"

"Taking a vacation." I replied sarcastically. "A friend is in trouble, taken by Strigoi."

"Oh that's awful. And let me guess, they're staying here?"

"Yeah. We're going after them tomorrow." Right now it was early in the morning for humans, so when I said tomorrow I meant tonight for humans.

"I hope you find her. I really do. If there's anything I can do to help, just say." I shook my head at her, and then I was hit with an idea.

"Actually..." I trailed of thinking it through while Mia looked at me with one eyebrow raised (seriously am I the only one that can't do that?), waiting for me to finish. "You could come with us. I mean your element might come in useful along with your logical thinking."

"Logical thinking? Oh yeah, you have none of that do you?" I rolled my eyes at her and laughed.

"So you in?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm in." She replied.

"Rose? You coming?" Alberta's voice came from the stairs.

I walked over with Mia walking next to me.

After a happy reunion between us all with Mia we made our way up to our room where we explained the situation. Her eyes would widen every now and then, but she stayed quiet through it all.

Eventually we all went to bed, sorting out a schedule for keeping watch, but nothing happened until the morning, well night for humans.

We made our way downstairs early and got everyone in the car, waiting for the Strigoi to make an appearance.

They came out of the hotel dragging Ginny with them, she looked as though she was in daze.

_No!_ I thought, hoping that it want what I thought.

My eyes made their way to her neck, where I could just make out two drops of blood and a bruise. She had been bitten.

I could tell that everyone but Hermione, Harry and Ron had noticed it because they all let out a gasp and exchanged disgusted glances.

The strigoi started the car, and we followed them closely. They soon realised we were behind them and sped up.

We copied them, not letting them out of our sight as we travelled down the deserted roads over 100mph.

"Anyone got a plan?" I asked.

"Nope." Dimitri said, spinning the wheel as we rounded a sharp corner. I stared at him. He always had a plan and we were taught not to act without a plan. We had to improvise.

I looked around and assessed the area and the distance between the cars along with the seating arrangements in both cars.

"Pull up right behind them. Don't overtake them." Dimitri nodded and accelerated faster until we were right behind them.

"Wish me luck." I said. Then I undid my seatbelt and opened the window nearest to me.

Climbing over Hermione and Lissa I stuck my head out of the window.

"What are you doing Rose?" Lissa asked. Panic made its way through the bond, but I pushed them aside. I needed to focus. I sat so my head was outside of the car, along with my torso, and my legs were inside. I grabbed the roof of the car and brought my legs up and out, pushed of the car and until I was on the roof of it.

I held that position as we went round another corner. After a couple of seconds I sat up and felt the adrenalin coursing through my veins.

I slid down the hood of the car, ignoring the cries from my friends. I leaped from the hood onto the bumper of the strigoi

I climbed up onto the roof again, and without wasting any time, I leaned over to the drivers side and smashed the window. Pain shot all the way up my arm as my fist made contact with the window, and glass rained down going through the window and falling to the floor.

The car swerved, almost throwing me off, but I tightened my gripp, praying to whatever god existed.

I manoeuvred and lowered myself so I could fit through the window. The stirgoi gripped my foot and twisted. I screamed out in pain as I heard something crack and punched the strigoi.

I fumbled with my stake, trying to free it from my belt, while blocking out the screams that were coming form Ginny.

Was I had the stake, I held it firmly and struggled with the strigoi. He gripped my arm and I scratched his face with the stake. He cried out in pain and raised his hands to his face, creating the perfect opening for me to drive it through his chest.

His body went limp and his head rolled. He was dead.

Before I could do anything, the car swerved and I was thrown of the car. My body hit the road, and I felt pain everywhere. The world span and I faded into darkness, unsure if I would ever wake up from it.


	13. Chapter 13

**So sorry that it took so long to update! Anyway I bring you Chapter 13 read and review because we'd like to know what you think and any ideas you have! So on with the story!**

Chapter 13  
RPOV  
If I was dead, then I definitely was not in heaven, as it was raining. And I hate rain. Though I should probably have been used to it growing up in Montana. Additionally, I don't think that flying (if it's possible without wings) in heaven makes you feel sick. Slowly I opened my eyes, squinting through rain, and looked up into the face of Dimitri. I groaned slightly as I closed my eyes from the pain in my body. Gingerly I touched the back of my head and winced when my fingers touched something warm and sticky. I stared at my red fingers and promptly passed out.

I awoke later to see a ceiling stretching out above me. Thankfully my body felt refreshed and pain free. Sitting up, I looked around. I was lying on a soft white bed in a room with golden walls, a mini fridge and flat screen TV was at the end of my bed. It would definitely have been heaven if someone like Ben Barnes or Ian Somerhalder was here. I heard a key turn in the lock of my door, and looked towards the door expectantly. It opened and I tried to hide my obvious disappointment that it wasn't Ian Somerhalder or Ben Barnes, but Alberta.

So much for being in heaven.

"Oh, Rose! You're awake. How are you feeling?" she asked, her brown eyes sparkling with concern.  
"I'm fine, thanks. Feeling a lot better."

"You're lucky Lissa was there, if not you would have died."

We stayed silent for a couple of minutes until the door opened again and Lissa walked in.

"Thought you'd be awake." She said when she saw me sitting up. "I brought doughnuts!" She held up a brown paper bag whilst making her way over to the bed. Lissa sat down next to me, wrapping her thin pale arms tightly around me.

"I thought you were going to die. I kept trying to heal you, but it was like your body was rejecting the magic. And the blood. Oh my god, the blood. It was everywhere. You were covered in blood and cuts and you were barely breathing! I thought I was too late." Tears spilled down her face and dripped onto her hands that were clutching mine. I enveloped her in a hug as she began to sob into my shoulder.

"It's alright. I'm alright." I soothed her gently.

"I'm sorry!" Lissa cried.  
"Sorry?" I exclaimed. "What the hell for?"  
"For using Spirit. I know you don't like it when I do it." 

"No, don't worry. Anyway, no harm done, is it?" That of course was a total lie. In the long run, Lissa's going to get more depressed, and I'm going to get cranky. Or worse, I'll go crazy and try to kill myself, like Anna did after Vladimir died. Though I shouldn't be worried about committing suicide myself, Lissa's the one that I have to worry about, seeing as she was the one who cut herself, which is also the reason she started taking those pills that stopped her Spirit abilities. She was taking anti-depressants.

If it gets too bad again, I don't care if she'll hate me forever because of it, I'm going to get her to go back on those pills. I'm not going to have her risking her own life. Lissa pulled away from our embrace, and she said that she had to go ask Ron something. Alberta went with her to keep Lissa out of harm's way. I tossed the doughnuts to my bedside table and sighed as I sank back into my soft feather pillows. I felt better now; all of my injuries were gone, thanks to Lissa's amazing healing. All I felt now, because of the severity of my wounds, was exhaustion. Just as I started to fantasize about Ian Somerhalder, and whether he'd be in heaven or not, Dimitri knocked on my door softly and stepped into my room. 

"Are you okay?" he asked, worry creasing his face.  
"Yep," I smiled. "Brand new."  
There was a silence as he started to slowly pace the end of my bed. 

"You shouldn't have pulled that stunt. It was idiotic and stupid, and could have killed not only you but Ginny as well, seeing as you staked the driver."  
I looked up, shocked. Did he really think I would let that happen?  
_But you did let it happen Rose_. An inner voice commented.

"And if you had died, what did you think would happen to Lissa? Did you ever stop to think about her when you decided to jump on top of a car?"  
"At least I did something!"  
"Yes because it made a whole lot of difference didn't it?" He retorted sarcastically.  
"Fine, I won't bother trying to save anyone next time then." I crossed my arms and looked away from his gaze.  
"That's not what I mean and you know it." Dimitri stopped pacing and sat on the edge of my bed. "I understand the need for excitement and action. I understand the need for saving your friends life. I really do. But I also understand the need for planning and thinking before I rush in and get myself killed." Ouch. Are you talking about Spokane, by any chance?  
Dimitri looked at me sadly. "You need to think, Rose. You're going to be a great Guardian someday. All you need to do is think."  
Dimitri squeezed my hands and left me alone to drown in myself misery. Think. Yeah, fat lot of good that's done me in the past.


	14. Chapter 14

**Here's another chapter – I updated this whilst watching The Hunch Back Of Notre Dame – I love all the old Disney films!**

Chapter 14  
RPOV  
When I awoke the next day, I opened my eyes and watched dust float around my room for a while, highlighted by the beam of early morning sunlight flooding into my room through the window. I sighed and rolled over onto my side, and started to attempt to organize my warring thoughts and feelings. First of all, I couldn't decide whether I was angry at Dimitri or not. I mean, on one hand, I could understand that he was just worried about Ginny and Lissa, but on the other he had absolutely no right at all to talk to me like I was a child, he may be my instructor, but he is not my father. I'm eighteen years old, for God's sake, I know what I'm doing.

He may be some big "bad-ass" guardian, but like he said that night in his room all of those long weeks ago; I'm going to have more molnija marks than him one day. I'll make sure of it. Anger throbbed all over my body, and I had a burning resentment and humility towards Dimitri, and the way he had spoken/lectured at me. 

I glanced at my watch: 6.30am. Sighing tiredly, I pulled back the duvet covers and swung my legs out of the warm sheets. I wiggled my toes in the soft carpet as I stood up and walked over to the en suite bathroom. I had a quick shower and, put on my clothes, grabbed my bag and left the room. 

Lissa and Harry were waiting in the lobby of the hotel with steaming cups of coffee. I wrinkled my nose slightly at the smell of it, I am not a coffee girl. 

"Hey!" Lissa greeted me with a smile and a doughnut.  
"'Morning." I yawned widely, taking the doughnut and biting into it, relishing the sweet taste of chocolate icing. 

"This came a couple of minutes ago," Harry said, handing me an envelope. "It's for you."  
I swallowed a bit of doughnut, tore the wax seal off of the envelope and took out the letter. 

_**Rose,**____**  
**__**Ginny's been seen in Inverness, Scotland.**____**  
**__**Albus Dumbledore**_

I slipped the letter into my back pocket and glanced around impatiently. 

"Well where the hell are the others?" A little voice I in the back of my head whispered that I shouldn't be so snappy, that Lissa's darkness was affecting me again.  
Harry and Lissa exchanged a look. 

"Dimitri's trying to convince Mia that it's not a good idea for her to come with us to find Ginny." Harry looked like he was expecting a bomb to go off any second.  
Oh. I guess the bomb is me. 

"Right." I crossed my arms and looked expectantly at the pair. "Where is he?"  
"Look, Rose. I agree with Dimitri. I think it's too dangerous for a Moroi to-" 

"You're a Moroi." I pointed out defiantly. "Yet Dimitri is somehow letting you come with us." Lissa looked a little hurt, and I realized that I must have sounded like I didn't want her here. I sighed wearily. "Just tell me where he is, before I have to go into your mind to find out." I threatened her, and she looked uncomfortable. I knew Lissa hated it when I was in her mind, she felt like I was intruding on her thoughts and feelings. She sighed exasperatedly and pointed to a door that said Conference Room A. 

I pushed open the door and poked my head into the wide room. Dimitri and Mia were stood on either side of the table, looking at each other. Mia had a scowl on her face (one that I recognize all too well.), and Dimitri was looked annoyingly patient. Like always. Calm, stoic, Zen-like Dimitri. 

"Rose will agree with me! Won't you Rose? I can help! I helped in Spokane, didn't I? And my dad will almost definitely let me go with you, because today's the last day of our vacation, and then were going back to Court because Dad's got to work. I'll just tell him I'm going with you guys." Mia turned on her puppy dog eyes, which forces everyone to give in and do what she says, thought apparently Dimitri's immune to it. 

"I grew up with three sisters. That's not going to work on me." 

Wow. Am I psychic or what? 

I stepped properly into the room.  
"It's true." I stated, looking Dimitri in the eyes. "She was really helpful. She saved my life." Even if I didn't manage to save Mason's. 

Dimitri looked between me and Mia, his head swivelling back and forth like he was watching a tennis match, as he silently deliberated whether to let her come.  
At last Dimitri sighed, ran his hands through his hair and said, "Fine. Mia can come." Mia grinned at me. "But, only if you're very careful and you don't go looking for danger." I rolled my eyes dramatically. 

"Stop being such a teacher. And not the Dhampir kind." 

Ten minutes later we were all squashed back into the car, and were on our way to Inverness. As the hours ticked by, my hope of ever finding Ginny slowly started to deplete. The sun was slowly setting as we arrived at the outskirts of Inverness.  
But then by a stroke of amazing luck (and a load of driving around lost) we managed to stumble across a small shack that had the Strigoi's car parked outside of it. 

My breath caught, and butterflies spun around in my stomach as I started to get excited. We ran out of the car, and after making a quick plan, we crept up to the front door. 

So far so good. 

Dimitri went silently over to the front door and pushed it open. He stepped inside, the shadows swallowing him. I waited with my breath held. Dimitri is a god, he can look after himself. Dimitri is a god, he can look after himself. Dimitri is a god... 

I repeated it over and over again like a mantra. After about 30 seconds Dimitri came back outside, and signalled for us to follow him. I went in first followed by Harry, then Lissa, then Mia, then Ron, then Hermione. The inside of the hut/shack was dark, damp and cold. Peeling wallpaper was pasted on the walls, with mould growing in the corners. My stake was ready in my hand, and I squeezed it tighter as I glanced across the room, it was completely empty, aside from a whiteboard with something all too familiar: 

Badica  
Conta  
Dashkov  
Dragomir  
Drozdov  
Ivashkov  
Lazar  
Ozera  
Szelsky  
Voda  
Zeklos  
Tarus

Badica and Drozdov had red 'X''s next to them, but the thing that caught my attention the most, was the bright red circle surrounding the name Dragomir.


	15. Chapter 15

Anger filled me along with worry. It looked like she was their next target, and I had left alone. Sure she had the others, but I was going to be her guardian, and guardians never leave their Moroi like that, despite what else is happening.

Dimitri came over and stood beside me looking at the names. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, the door was flung open and there stood two Strigoi. One male, one female.

I stared in the Strigoi's red eyes and immediately felt the familiar rush of adrenalin. Pulling my stake out I glanced over at Alberta and Dimitri to see them already on action. Alberta was rushing the other s out the room and giving them instructions on what they were meant to do. Dimitri was fighting the male. The female lunged at me, mahogany hair flying everywhere.

I ducked and rolled to the side, narrowly escaping her hands. I stood up and turned to face her, stake out, knees bent.

"Bitch." She snarled.

"Munter." I replied equally

"Piece of Shit." Her fist flew towards my face. I parried the blow.

"Fucking Ashat!" I tried to roundhouse kick her, but she leapt backwards out of harm's way.

"Blood whore!" She screeched just as my stake scraped along the skin of her face.

"Prostitute." Her red eyes were now slits as she stared at me with hated that had been stored up for god knows how long.

"Lesbiyanki"

"Zhira Shlyuha!" I smirked. Dimitri had finally given in to teaching me Russian swears. I'd always known it would come in handy some time.

I parried another of her blows, then stepped inside her attack on my left, brought my stake up and pushed it through her heart. A blood-curdling scream escaped her lips and she fell to the floor dead. Again.

Countless seconds later Dimitri had the second Strigoi in a head lock.

"What are doing? " I asked incredulously, surprised he hadn't killed it yet.

"We need to figure out what these lists mean."

I nodded at him and out of the corner of my eye saw that Harry and the others had re-entered the room. Alberta made her way over to us with her stake grasped firmly in her right hand. With Dimitri's help she floored the Striogoi and held down his legs which were thrashing all over the place.

Dimitri held down his arms and then looked at me expectantly. I walked over and straddled the Strigoi's chest.

"Well hello Sexy, what's your name?" I asked flirtatiously. He glared at me and I sighed.

"We can do this the easy way… or the hard way. The easy way – you tell me everything without complaint. The hard way – I use my stake and scrape your skin off, layer by layer." By the end of my sentence my voice had turned to ice and I was leaning over him, glaring into his secret filled eyes.

I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest.

"So what'll it be?"

"Porvalivae." He spat.

I just smirked and slowly undid the buttons on his shirt. It opened up and exposed and naked white chest which wasn't maimed. Perfect. Lifting my stake I positioned it just above his heart.

"Who are you and who do you work for?" I questioned and then raised an eyebrow (well both my eyebrows as I can't raise only one) at his silence and slowly began to draw with my stake.

The Strigoi screamed and thrashed around in pain.

"Ok! I'll tell!" He cried. I paused in my ministrations and looked at him expectantly, waiting.

"My name is Alex Trasov and I work for the Dark Lord."

This was not good. If HE had Strigoi working for him that means that they might attack St Vlads while we were away. There was nothing I could do about that though. So I decided to play with him.

"What's the Dark Lords name?" I asked innocently. Again, silence.

I carried on with my drawing ignoring his cries.

"Voldemort!" He finally yelled.

"Pity. I was having fun drawing on you. Now I don't have an excuse to carry on." I pouted then titled my head and added. "Yet." I gave him a mischievous wink.

"Rose…" Dimitri warned, giving me a hard look. I ignored him, too caught up in the darkness that had invaded my mind.

"You're in luck." I continued to Alex. "I just thought if another question to ask you." Alex's face darkened.

"Oh, oops. I'm sorry; I meant _I'm _in luck." I giggled, and a small voice in the back of my head told me that I was starting to sound a little cracked in the head.

"So. Mr. Trasov. I continued. "What exactly does that lovely list over there mean?" I pointed a thumb behind me towards the whiteboard.

"I don't know." I pressed a little harder with my stake, drawing blood. _(A/N can Strigoi bleed?)_ Huh, he was ruining my picture I though vaguely.

"Ok! Ok!" Alex yelled out. "It's a list of all the royal families."

My frustration grew as I got more and more bored. "No shit Sherlock. What exactly about them?"

"We're planning to take them all out."

"And who are you currently targeting?" I asked, dreading the answer.

He grinned manically. "Vasilissa Dragomir."

I saw red and my stake in my hand suddenly felt heavy.

"Lay one hand on her, and I will personally hunt down your family and rip them to shreds in front of you one, by one. After I'm done with them, I'll start with you."

"Rose." Dimitri interrupted once more.

"So tell me, why are you hunting them down?"

"To destroy the Moroi government so we can reign."

"And what's in it for you?" I asked. "I mean you're already immortal. You don't care about your family and wherever they live or die. You can still hunt and get blood. So what's in it for you?"

He didn't answer so I finished my drawing.

"He said we would have the freedom to hunt whoever we like, wherever we like and whenever we like. Without being killed by Dhampir."

I had assumed this much.

"Thank you, you've been most…helpful." I slurred and raised my stake to add something else to the drawing.

Once I was done, I leant back to admire my work. I had simply drawn a rose, and to my upmost delight I saw that the Strigoi's blood made it looked like I had used red paint to fill the rose in.

Underneath I decided to add my signature. The Strigoi screamed in pain, and I relished in the sound. Soaking it up like music to my ears. I pulled back my fist and punched him in the jaw. It wasn't enough. So I did it again and again and again, until a pair of hands grabbed my arms from behind. I screamed and thrashed trying to break free from Harry. I had to make this Strigoi pay.

Pay for having a hand in all this. Pay for trying to hunt down Lissa. He shouldn't even have thought of her, for her image to have crossed his disgusting, vile mind!

My arms broke free and I brought down my stake, planting it deep into the monsters chest. I pulled it out, and then, just like with my punches, I stabbed him repeatedly. His body had fallen limp ages ago, yet I kept on taking my anger and hate out on the body, malice and revenge the only thoughts.

In my mind I vaguely realized that tears were streaming down my face and that everyone was calling my name. But I paid no heed and carried on. Another pair of arms, this time the stronger ones of Dimitri pulled my off and held me to his chest.

I leant down and whispered in my ear. "This isn't you Roza. Calm down. It's the side effects of the Princess magic."

I stopped struggling and slowly back out of Dimitri's arms.

At that moment the door was ripped off its hinges and a man whom I knew to be named Dolohov marched in. Taking in the scene before him he raised his wand and aimed at me. Hermione, sensing what he was going to do, stepped forward, wand raised.

"Expelli-" before she could finish Dolohov yelled out the killing curse and sent it straight at her.

Reflexes kicked in, and I was soon across the room, tackling Hermione to the ground so she would avoid getting hit.

I shivered as I felt the spell skim my shoulder and burry itself into the wall behind me.

In a moment of complete and utter rage and confusion, I stood up and flung a hand out at the Death Eater. "Stupify!" I screamed.

To my surprise a streak of red light burst from my fingertips and traveled in a straight line to Dolohov's chest. He fell to the floor unconscious. I stared at my fingers amazed. I had just done wandless magic. How?

I broke out of my revere when I heard Hermione's bloody cry.

I spun around to see her cradling a body. A dead body covered in blood.

Mia's dead body.


	16. Chapter 16

RPOV

2 days had passed since Mia had died, and no-one was the same. How could we be? One of our best friends had dies, it would change anyone.

Most of all, Mia's death reminded me that there was about to be war. It reminded me that this was not some book where the good guys -especially the main protagonist -somehow always seemed to miraculously survive. No this is real life full of injustice where good guys die and bad guys live. That is if you can label people as good and as bad guys. Reflecting on Mia's death I don't think that the labels are that clear. I don't think the words 'good'[ and 'evil' are words with simple black and white meanings.

I mean, us guardians, Harry, Ron, Hermione, we all believe that what we are doing is the right, good thing to do, but from the Strigoi's point of view and from Voldemorts point of view -it's not. And maybe they believe that what they are doing is right, so to them we are the bad guys.

Take terrorists for example -there's a famous saying that goes 'One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.' That saying applies here doesn't it?

I let out an audible sigh, my mind was conflicted and the confliction was distracting me from the task at hand: Finding Ginny.

We were back in the cellar where Mia had died, looking for any clues as to where she might be, but so far we had found nothing. I let my fingers trail along the walls, looking for something, anything, but it was to no avail.

I turned around, ready to tell the guys that we might as well give up, there was nothing here, but before I could get the words out, Ron let out a cry of frustration and anger.

Turning to the wall he yelled, "Bombardo!" At his words the wall crumpled down into a mass of dust and rubble, revealing a flight of stairs heading down.

We all looked at Ron in surprise, he had done it. Ron of all people had found the passage to where we believed Ginny to be held.

Without a second thought Ron surged forward, running down the steps with Hermione and Harry scrambling after him.

After sharing a look with Dmitri, we both followed a little more hesitantly with our stakes in front of us, ready for another attack.

The was a faint light coming from the bottom and we could hear anyone, not even Hermione, Ron or Harry and a bad feeling grew in my gut and cold dread swept across me.

I fastened the pace, reached the bottom step and then turned the corner into a large underground room.

Immediately my eyes went to Ginny who was shackled to the wall, Her ginger hair was greasy and tangled, and her pale skin was now even paler with a tinge of blue added to it. Her clothes were torn and bloodied and she appeared to be unconscious.

My eyes then swept the room looking for the Golden Trio and when I did I stood in shock.

Ron and Harry were on the floor, out cold, while Hermione stood just in front of them, a wand in her hand and her hair tangled and dishevelled. Opposite her stood another wizard, also with his wand out. They were at a standoff, both seemed to be waiting for the other to attack.

The silence and the tension in the room suffocated me. I wanted nothing more than to run across the room and drive a stake through the wizards heart, but I knew that this was something Hermione had to do.

"Come on Granger, we don't want to stand here all day now do we?" He sung.

"No you're right Dolohov, we don't." With that she flung out her arm and yelled "Stupify!" And flash of red light erupted from her wand flying straight towards Dolohov who only just managed to duck in time.

He then retaliated, but the light that came from his wand was green, the colour of the killing curse.

Soon colours of light were flashing every second, flying back and forth between Hermione and the man whose name was apparently Dolohov. Neither were getting hit.

I crouched down low, tensing my leg muscles getting ready to attack.

My eyes tried to analyse every spell that came from Dolohov wand, trying to see if it would hit Hermione, but the spells flew by too fast.

I don't know how long the fight went on for, but it seemed to drag on for hours and it only stopped when Dimitri decided to sneak up behind Dolohov and deliver and blow to his head, knocking him into unconsciousness. Dolohov's limp body fell to the ground with a smack that seemed to bring everyone back into focus.

I stood straight, and the ache in my muscles gave me small indication to the fact that we had spent a long time in there.

Hermione raced over to Ron and Harry, trying to check if they were all right, and although I wanted to walk over and check that Harry was okay, I knew that I had to focus on what was more important, and at the moment the most important thing to do was to check on Ginny,

I walked over to her body and picked up Dolohov's wand from wear it was lying after he fell, I knew that the wand was not mine, I did not take it from him during the fight, but I hoped that it would work for me enough to undo the shackles on Ginny.

I placed the wand against the cool metal and whispered a small spell and to my utter relief the shackles fell off and Dimitri caught Ginny before she fell. Gently he lowered her to the floor, then he looked up at me with his eyes guarded and said "you have a lot of explaining to do Rose."

Sighing, I nodded my head, knowing that he had been wanting to talk to me ever since this journey had begun. I had tried to avoid him, but I knew that someday I would have to face him and tell him about mine and Lisa's adventures that occurred when we had run away.

"We need to get her medical help." He stated as he checked her body for signs of damage. "She'll live but she needs some help."

It turned out that the shackles on her wrists had cut into her skin leaving behind bad bruising and blood. Her head had a large bump at the back and it was likely that it would give her a concussion, also her right arm was broken and she had possibly sprained an ankle, but that was all Dimitri could tell.

Lisa, who had been told to stay up the stairs, had come down just before Dolohov had been knocked out and walked over to where we were with Ginny.

"Let me." She said calmly.

"Lisa, don't, she'll be fine once we get her to a hospital and you don't want to use up your energy." I tried to reason, secretly dreading what would happen to me if she used her Spirit powers,

She gave me a tight smile but ignored what I had said, placing a hand on Ginny's arm she let her Spirit power do the work.

I could feel the magic flow out of her through the bond and quickly the darkness began to take over my mind.

I wanted revenge. Revenge on that peasant Dolohov for what he had done to Ginny, who knows what she had been through? Despite her physical injuries not being too bad, she might of had the cruciatus curse performed on her multiple times when she was being kept down here. I shivered just thinking about it, one of my good friends, Neville, his parents had had a death eater -Bellatrix- performed on them, and it had damaged them so badly psychologically that they were being kept in St Mungo's. a specialist hospital for the magical world, even vampires knew of it.

Lisa stayed like that, her arm on Ginny for a few minutes before she pulled away breathing heavily and sank to the floor. Using the bond, I took away the side effects of her Spirit use and felt my hands clench into fists. Glancing over to where Dolohov was laying I lost control and walk over to him, intending to make him pay for what he did to Ginny.

Before I could reach him I felt an arm on my shoulder pulling my back up the stairs. I tried to fight it, I wanted to hurt Dolohov like he did to Ginny, but a small rational part knew that I shouldn't and thus allowed the arm to pull me away.

I was suddenly pushed against the wall and trapped with a body.

"Let me go!" I all but growled out. I was getting angrier by the second, a clear sign that Lisa was using more Spirit, most likely on Harry and Ron.

"No I can't do that I'm afraid Rose." Adrian's smooth voice washed over me. One of his hands rested on my hip, rubbing circles over the fabric of my think cotton t-shirt.

"Please Adrian! I need to!" I begged, knowing I would regret acting weak later on.

"No you don't Rose, you can fight it." He tried to comfort me.

"I'm not as strong as everyone thinks Ivashkov." I whispered, trying to fight the urge to floor him and then make a run for Dolohov.

"Tell me Rose, tell me what I can do to help!" His hand on my hip stopped it's movements and instead he grasped it hard and pulled me even closer to him. He rested his head against my hair, laying small kisses along the top of my head. "Please Rose, tell me what I can do to help you."

My thoughts were becoming jumbled, his lips on my forehead distracting me, and that's when I knew what I needed to do to prevent myself from attacking someone. I reached up and put my arms around his neck, my fingers tangling in his hair.

"Distract me." I asked. "Kiss me." With that I pulled away slightly and then pulled his head down to mine and planted my lips on his.


	17. Chapter 17

He's lips decided upon mine, soft at first, but then again harder. His lips were soft but firm and moved in synchronisation with mine whilst his hands had found a small sliver of skin between my jeans and top and were rubbing small circles on the naked skin there. All the thoughts flew out my mind as I lost myself to the sensation of his kisses, and instead my hands skimmed along his hard chest and tangled themselves into his hair. I wrapped his soft locks around my fingers and gave an experimental tug. He groaned and opened his mouth, his tongue crept out and licked along my bottom lip, I let out a gasp of surprise and pleasure which he used to his advantage and his tongue entered my mouth. He tasted sweet with a hint of whiskey and I moaned in ecstasy, losing myself if the sensations of his very talented tongue, until I felt something hit the back of my head.

"Ow!" I cried, and spun around to glare at an unamused Lisa.

She gave me a small smirk and said "Sorry, but it was necessary." With that she grabbed Adrian by the arm and waited for him to pick Ginny and then stalked out the room with everyone following behind her. Just before he went through the door, Adrian turned and sent me a broken smile with confusion clouding his eyes.

I let out a weary sigh and was about to follow, but a shadowy figure in the corner of the room made me jump. I let out a small scream and with a hand to my heart exclaimed "Dimitri! I didn't see you there!"

Dimitri just looked at me, with his guardian mask in place and that was when I realised. Dimitri had seen. He had watched me kiss Adrian.

"Dimitri…I…I" I trailed off, unsure of what to say. A part of me still loved Dimitri, and most likely always would, but us being together just wasn't possible and there were times when I questioned his feelings for me. Did he love? I wasn't sure. As for Adrian, I could tell that his was attracted to me, and over the last few days I had seen a more caring side to him. A side that wasn't so alcohol and sex obsessed, and side that I knew for sure that I could fall in love with. The kiss with him had been a wonderful experience and something that I very much hoped to repeat, but I still needed to talk to Dimitri about us and everything else.

"Come Roza, let's go back to the hotel and we can talk there." With that he strode out the room, his duster swaying around his legs, I had no choice but to follow him out to where the cars were parked.

The others were all waiting there, Ginny had be laid out across the seats in one car, her head resting in Harry's lap who had woken up and was stroking Ginny's hair. I could see her frail chest rising up and down with each breathe she took. Ron was sitting at the back, just stirring now and touching the bump that had formed on his head, Hermione was fussing over him and mothering him whilst trying to hold back her tears. Dimitri climbed behind the wheel of that car and I trudged over to the other car next to Alberta who was driving. Lisa and Adrian were in the back, with their heads close together, whispering urgently. As we started the drive back to the hotel I relaxed back into my seat and closed my eyes.

I was exhausted, all the fighting and running around was catching up to me, and I was having trouble sleeping at night. Nightmares haunted me everywhere I looked. Dreams of Mason followed me and thoughts of Mia plagued me. Guilt was weighing heavily upon my chest and I could feel myself slowing falling into this black hole where there was no salvation. Did salvation even exist? It didn't, not for me at least. I was lost in sin and I believed that for me there was no hope at redemption. Not when I stilled blamed myself for Mia and Mason.

Thinking about their death scared me, it made me feel weak and I couldn't take it. Flashbacks started flashing across my eyes. Seeing Mason fall to the floor. Looking at Mia's lifeless body. Masons lifeless eyes staring into mine. Mia's bloody body cradled in my arms.

Images kept flashing, like lightning, illuminating all the bad and all the blood. I could feel my heart rate pick up and feel sweat trickle down my forehead as I tried to get my breathing under control.

My eyes snapped open and darted to the outside window, we were nearly there. Nearly at the hotel, if only I could keep it together another two minutes then I could fall apart privately.

I glared outside, not really seeing, my fists clenching and unclenching in my lap. I could feel tears burn my eyes, but I stubbornly refused to let them fall, not yet. There was ringing in my ears, I could hear nothing. The ringing was getting louder and louder. I vaguely noticed the car being parked, but the ringing was too loud to fully comprehend it and it was killing my head. My hands reached up to clasp my hair, yanking and scratching at my skull.

Distantly I heard the car door near me being opened and voices calling my name, but they weren't reaching through to me. I felt something warm trickle down my hands, and I pulled them away from my head to look at them, but they were covered in blood. My breaths were coming out in short pants as I stared at my hands. Fear gripped me and I tried to rub the blood off on my clothes but it wouldn't come off.

"Get it off! Get it off! Get the blood off me!" I screamed. Hands grabbed at me, trying to restrain me, but I was to restless trying to get rid of the red staining my hands.

All of sudden I heard screaming. The scream was loud and familiar. Mason. It was Mason screaming, I looked around trying to find him, but all I could see were the concerned faces of Lisa, Adrian, Alberta and Dimitri. Confusion filled me, what was going on? Where was Mason?

Then suddenly Mia started screaming too, but she too was no-where to be seen. I couldn't handle it anymore – the blood, the screams – so I pushed everyone away and ran blindly. I found myself in a bathroom and ran to the taps, turning the hot tap on and sticking my hands underneath. I scrubbed and scrubbed, rubbing them raw, but still they were red. I didn't understand. Why wasn't it coming off?

I collapsed on the floor emotionlessly. My hands laying limply by my side, tears streaming down my face and the tap still running water. I don't know how long I was sat there, it could've been mere minutes, or maybe even hours, I was unsure. Time had lost its meaning to me. Everything had lost its meaning. This fight against Voldemort and the Strigori had lost its meaning, its importance, and I had lost hope. But soon I felt myself being lifted and warm hand caress my face.

"Roza? Roza stay with me, you're all right." I heard the Russian voice in my eye. Weakly I managed to turn my head in his direction and look into Dimitri's eyes.

"The blood…" I whispered. His brow furrowed and he look confused so I held up my hands in answer. Understanding lit his features as concern became apparent in his eyes.

"Roze, there's nothing on your hands, there is no blood, look again. What happened with Mason and Mia was not your fault Roza, their blood isn't on your hands."

He continued to tell my how none of this was my fault, that in a war there would always be casualties but I couldn't afford to place the blame on myself. I couldn't take the whole war on my shoulders, I had be born into the war, I was not the creator of the war. He continued whispering this in my ear, but I couldn't believe him, there must have been something that I could've done differently to save Mia or Mason.

My eyes felt heavy, I couldn't deal with this. I was exhausted, I just wanted to sleep and wake up when everything was over. I rested my head on Dimitri's shoulder, and just before I lost consciousness I heard him say "Sleep Rose, and we'll talk when you wake up."

Then after that there was silence and I was lost to the world.


End file.
